Selective two-color resonant ionization of zirconium-91

摘要

A method for selectively photoionizing odd mass Zr atoms. Atomic vapours are subjected to two resonant laser pulses to raise the energy of Zr atoms from the J=2 ground state, to a J=1 first intermediate state and to a second intermediate state prior to ionization. Quantum mechanical selection rules applicable to linearly polarized light and hyperfine interactions are exploited to produce odd mass selectivity.